Art, Nature and Healing

When we think of art we often think about museums, galleries, and art studios, but art can be seen in nature. The fact that nature is in and of itself beautiful only adds to the healing nature created by healing gardens.

I’ve been watching a series on television titled, Gardenstory: inspired places, healing spaces. The show looks at the impact gardens have on our lives and how they can help us overcome obstacles including health challenges.

The recent show I watched focused on a garden designer named David Kemp. The program showcased three gardens; one for AIDS patients in a New York hospital, one for dementia patients, and one to honor the lives lost on September 11th on Flight 93.

As the host of the show walks the gardens with Mr. Kemp you sense his deep commitment to the notion of gardens as healing agents. It doesn’t matter if the garden is manicured or loose, on a rooftop or a field; the gardens are amazing and to watch people interact with nature is breathtaking.

Most people living in industrialized nations suffer from nature deficit disorder. We’ve become a civilizations of the concrete jungle and we’re amazed when we go out in nature how beautiful and rejuvenating it can be. The truth is that interacting with nature in a positive way is good for your physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

Interacting with nature provides you with a sense of wonder and possibility. It can teach you about resilience; something important to understand when diagnosed with a chronic or life-threatening illness. The idea that nature can heal itself with time makes one wonder how does that translate to your own life.

The idea that a healing garden can engage you visually by color and structure; by sound as a result of the animals/birds it attracts, and touch by feeling the different textures. It can provide solace when you find a quit spot in the garden or it can exhilarate your system by the color and fragrances coming from the plants.

What can you do today to incorporate the art of nature into your health regimen? What lessons about health and healing do you take away from being in nature? How will you utilize art and healing with nature as part of your journey to wellness?